'The Music Master' (Heroic Comics #16, January 1943).
Ben Thompson was an American artist, who has worked as a newspaper cartoonist, comic book artist and advertising illustrator. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, his art appeared in comic books published by Centaur Publishing, Timely Comics, Feature Comics and Eastern Color Printing. Among his notable co-creations were characters like 'The Masked Marvel' (Centaur, 1938-1942), 'Ka-Zar the Great' (Timely, 1939-1942) and 'Doctor Frost' (Feature Comics, (1940-1942).
Cartoon depicting Joseph Stalin as a witch brewing Communism.
Early life and career
Benton Florient Thompson was born in 1906 in Central City in Merrick County, Nebraska, as the son of Albert and Rose Thompson. As a boy, he moved to Bellingham, Washington, where he lived with an aunt and by 1922, was active as a radio amateur. At age 16, he also made a children's comic strip called 'The Alley Kids' for the Bellingham American Reveille. He studied at the University of Washington and the Chicago Art Institute. In 1929, he lived in Seattle, where he was a staff cartoonist for the Seattle Times. For the latter paper, Thompson also made a daily cartoon feature, 'Listen to This One', serialized between June 1930 and March 1932. In addition, Thompson made magazine art for Collier's, Click and The New Yorker, as well as gag cartoons for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Times and New York Journal-American. In 1949, he self-published a 16-page pamphlet with his Stalin cartoons, called 'The Reaper!'.
'The Masked Marvel' (December 1939).
The Masked Marvel
Between 1938 and 1942, Ben Thompson was active in the brand new field of comic books through the packager Funnies Inc. In 1939-1940, he created the adventures of "super sleuth" 'The Masked Marvel' for Keen Detective Comics, a comic book by Centaur Publishing. In late 1940, the character also starred in his own three-issue comic book series. The Masked Marvel was the first comic book hero with "marvel" in his moniker, created before Timely Publications/Marvel Comics began to introduce a host of characters with the name, such as 'The Black Marvel' (1941), 'Marvel Boy' (1950), 'Marvel Girl' (1963), 'Captain Marvel' (1967) and 'Ms. Marvel' (1977). However, Centaur's Marvel was not quite a superhero, since he didn't have any specific superpowers.
'Doctor Frost' (Prize Comics #9, February 1941).
Timely Comics
In addition, Thompson also produced artwork for Timely Comics, creating the jungle hero 'Ka-Zar the Great' for Marvel Comics #1 in 1939, the first comic book published by the future Marvel Comics. Adapted from the pulp story 'King of Fang and Claw' by Bob Byrd, Thompson continued the feature when the title continued as Marvel Mystery Comics from issue #2 on, and worked on these jungle adventures until issue #27 in 1942. In addition, Thompson also appeared in Timely's Daring Mystery Comics from its first issue on, first with the western story 'The Texas Kid, Robin Hood of the Range' and then drawing the superhero character 'Blue Diamond' (1941-1942). Another short-lived Timely feature drawn by Thompson was 'Citizen V', starring the Englishman John Watkins, who leads a group of freedom fighters in Nazi-occupied France. Debuting with a first story in Daring Mystery Comics #8 (1942), a second episode appeared in Comedy Comics #9 (April 1942).
Prize Comics
Between 1940 and 1942, Thompson also drew for Prize Comics, published under the imprint Feature Publications Inc. Together with scriptwriter Richard Steele, he created the character of 'Doctor Frost' for the title's seventh issue (December 1940). Coming from the Arctic North, this hero could freeze objects and create ice sleds by projecting powerful cold beams from his hands, while fighting enemies like the subterranean Vulcan. However, when in hot or dry environments, his powers were limited and the arctic hero had to rely on his fighting skills.
'Hydroman' (Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #12, September 1942).
Eastern Color Printing
From 1942 on, most of Thompson's comic book output was made for Eastern Color Printing. His early work for the company included drawing the 'Hydroman' feature for Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics and its follow-up Heroic Comics, a superhero who could transform into water, originally created by Bill Everett. Another over-the-top superhero co-created by Thompson for these comic books was 'Rainbow Boy' (1942-1943), a youngster who travels with the speed of light. By some sources, he is also credited with drawing 'The Music Master', a violinist able to fly through the air on musical notes, but the artist of this comic was actually Jimmy Thompson.
Gag cartoons by Ben Thompson, published in the Jacksonville Journal of 5 January 1958.
World War II
By 1942, Thompson's comic book career largely came to an end, when he was drafted in the U.S. Army. On 3 August 1944, the Nebraska paper Central City Nonpareil wrote that Lieutenant Benton Florient Thompson served in the Arctic training division of the Army Air Corps, and was recognized as one of America's better mountaineers. Stationed in Camp Hale, Colorado, he trained pilots in the Canadian Rockies to search for and rescue mountain-lost troops.
In August 1953, Ben Thompson's art appeared on the TV Time section of the Sunday Star-Ledger from Newark, New Jersey. The illustration promotes the Walt Disney cartoons 'The Martins and the Coys', 'Casey at the Bat' (from the anthology film 'Make Mine Music'), 'Johnny Appleseed' (from another anthology film, 'Melody Time') and 'The Brave Engineer'.
Later years and death
During the 1950s, Ben Thompson occasionally worked for Eastern Color comic books again, drawing for their romance title Personal Love and their New Heroic Comics comic book, which brought real-life acts of heroism as comic stories. In his later years, Thompson was mostly active as a commercial cartoonist for advertisements, and also returned to magazine and newspaper work. His cartoons were often included in the 'Laff-A-Day' cartoon section distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Ben Thompson lived for many years in Naugatuck, Connecticut, where one of his neighbors was fellow cartoonist Tony Barlow. After his divorce, Thompson moved to San Diego, California, where he died on 14 December 1975 at age 69.
Ben Thompson in 1926.